Broken Enchantment (Unbreakable Force Book 3) by Kara Jaynes Page A

certainly isn’t the way I’d have us meet, but you brought it on yourself.” He peered at Aaric intently. “It was quite the shock, seeing you running with rovers. Your father would have been ashamed to see you do so.”
    Aaric faced Kingsley, his fingernails digging into his palms. “Where’s Adaryn?” It was an effort not to grit his teeth.
    “You mean Poppy?” Kingsley smirked. “Don’t worry about her. She’s in good hands. She’s a fiery thing. It will take time to break her properly, but—” he chuckled, “—I have plenty of experience there. She’ll see reason soon enough.”
    Aaric took a step toward Kingsley, but the chain brought him up short. “Blast it, Kingsley, if you’ve hurt her, I swear, I’ll—”
    “Do what?” Kingsley interrupted. “Kill me? You can’t even walk more than a couple of paces. Give it up, Aaric, it’s over. Your future is here, within these four, tiny walls. And Adaryn’s future,” his smiled deepened, “is with me. Best forget her, Mr. Wright, because within a few days, she won’t have a choice but to forget you.”
    With that, Kingsley turned on his heel and walked from the room, clanging the door behind him, leaving Aaric alone in the darkness.

27
Grace
     
    T hrowing herself across her bed, Grace gave a sigh of annoyance. She was back at home with her loving mother and father. Her personal chambers had only the finest: plush carpets, expensive paintings, gilded furniture. She owned more clothes than she could possibly wear, and her own, personal slaves. She had everything she could want. Life was as perfect as it could be.
    Well, as perfect as it could be without Bran. Which meant it was dreadfully boring.
    Grace thought of her brief stay with the nomads. Bran had made her feel welcome, and initially, she thought she had been, until several tribesmen had bound, blindfolded and gagged her. They hadn’t told her what was going on, but being trussed up like a turkey for market, she’d expected the worst. Bran’s behavior had confirmed it.
    She twirled a lock of hair around her finger idly. She supposed she’d been a little on the hysterical side, but blast it, she almost died!
    Her father had been ready to lead a charge against the nomads right then and there, but Grace had been able to calm both him and her mother down. War was hardly the answer, was it?
    Bran’s face came to her mind, and she felt color rise to her cheeks. It didn’t help that the nomad twisted her insides and scrambled her brains. He was too handsome for his own good.
    She sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. What was done was done. No use fretting over what couldn’t be changed.
    A knock sounded on the door. “Come in,” Grace called. She looked down at herself as the door opened, remembering she was only clad in her shift, but it was just Polly, her slave. Polly was a plump, older woman, with a kind smile and graying brown hair she always kept pinned up in a bun.
    “Miss, you haven’t dressed.” Polly clicked her tongue. “Your mother is planning on shopping this afternoon.”
    Grace grunted with irritation. Standing, she walked over to her wardrobe and selected a dress of blue silk. It would match her complexion quite beautifully. Not that it mattered, since Bran wasn’t there to see it.
    Polly went on chattering about the city’s doings. Polly knew everything, it seemed. “You know Mr. Hartford has come to call on you twice since you’ve come home. You’ve caught his eye, dearie, and no mistake.”
    If he looked like Bran, I might be interested, Grace grumbled in her thoughts. She paused, tapping a finger to her lips. Or Matias. Despite the fact that the king had been a complete and total boor and at least fifteen years her senior, he was easy on the eyes. A complete boor, though, she reminded herself sternly. And not a king, anymore. That definitely made him less handsome.
    Something Polly said made Grace whirl around to face her. “What? What did you